TEHRAN, March 27: Iran has inaugurated a plant for processing uranium ore into gas, a step prior to enrichment of uranium, in the central city of Isfahan, Iranian nuclear officials said on Saturday.

"The Uranium Conversion Facility started working some time ago now," a senior official at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran told The Associated Press. He spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The nuclear facility in Isfahan, 400 kilometres south of Tehran, converts uranium ore into gas, which is destined for enrichment at a nuclear plant in Natanz. Iran suspended enrichment last year under strong international pressure over the aims and dimensions of its nuclear programme.

The United States strongly suspects Iran has a secret plan to build nuclear bombs. Iran denies this, saying its programme is strictly for the generation of electrical power. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently rebuked Iran for failing to disclose certain aspects of its nuclear development, as it is obliged to do as a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Inspectors from the IAEA were scheduled to arrive in Iran later in the day.

The official said the inspectors would visit the conversion facility in Isfahan as well as the enrichment plant in Natanz, 320 kilometres south of Tehran.-AP